Contractors ‘struggling to cope’ with cost increases in 2026
The increasing prices of fuel, parts, repairs and salaries this year have all left contractors "struggling to cope", according to the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).
FCI member agricultural contractors are also reporting increased incidents of stone damage to mowers and rakes so far in 2026.
The group said that the wet March and April ground conditions prevented many farmers from having the opportunity to roll silage ground or pick incidental stones.
Norman Egar, national chair of the FCI said that contractors saw “unnecessary machine downtime due to stone damage costs in terms of replacement part costs and valuable harvesting time lost during that short spell of May dry weather”.
“These are additional costs that have to be borne by the agricultural contractor.”
Meanwhile, FCI figures show price increases since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East for routine servicing of parts such as oil, diesel, and air filters, which have risen by 25%.
The group said the cost of lubricating oil has gone up 20% in the same period.
“Our members have been struggling to cope with increases in the cost of providing their services, long before the near 100% increases in agricultural diesel prices hit the national headlines,” Egar said.
He added that the group's weekly agricultural diesel price surveys are showing “erratic movement in fuel prices”.
Fuel Income Support Scheme
In April of this year, the €100 million Government Fuel Income Support Scheme was announced, aimed at easing pressure from rising fuel bills for farmers and farm and forestry contractors.
However, Egar maintained that the support scheme does not fully address the rise in fuel prices.
He said: “Even if contractors do get the maximum 20c/L, they will still be well short of the fuel prices from last year’s harvest – meaning prices for services such as silage harvesting and baling, simply must go up.”
The FCI also mentioned rising manpower costs, due to the auto-enrolment pension scheme and an increase in minimum wage.
“Our agricultural and forestry contractor sector lacks a large pool of new highly trained entrants, so keeping the current skilled machinery operators on the teams of our FCI members is crucial to the sector’s survival.
"As employers, we must also meet the expectations of our employees at a time of high living cost inflation.
“All of these additional cost increases - machines, fuel, combined with people skills - need to be factored into the business plans of every FCI agricultural and forestry contractor to ensure sustainability," Egar said.
